GAC Emkoo is anything but just another cheap Chinese import

Up until just the other day I had never heard of GAC Motor. And I can bet neither had you.

But GAC Motor was founded back in 2008 and is considered one of China’s leading vehicle manufacturers. Why is this relevant you may ask? And I think you know where I am going with this.

Well, it’s simple. They are going to be distributing and retailing cars through the Salvador Caetano Group in South Africa and they have already hit the ground running.

GAC Emkoo follows Emzoom

Just a few weeks ago we introduced you to their compact SUV, the GAC GS3 Emzoom. And here I am already telling you about their mid-size SUV, the GAC Emkoo, that has just gone on sale.

The GAC Emkoo is offered in two derivatives, both of which are comprehensive specced. The Executive comes in at R599 900 and the Executive-Plus that comes in at R659 900. And it was the latter that The Citizen Motoring got to spend some time with exploring the roads around in and around the Magaliesburg.

I never get into the styling details, because that is what the pics are there for. But I have to admit I quite like the futuristic, LED, front and rear light signature, driven looks of the GAC Emkoo. Will I still say this in a few years’ time? Who knows. Sometimes car designs like this age well and sometimes they don’t. And then you question what you were thinking at the time.

ALSO READ: Plans emerge: GAC approves Emzoom and Emkoo for South Africa

Spacious cabin

What is less subjective are things like interior space, quality of fittings, tech onboard and the drive and feel of the car on the road. And here the GAC Emkoo scores highly again. The cabin is spacious with real room for five adults and a decent haul of luggage while featuring almost every luxury you can think of.

As is the norm these days in this segment, the dash is a high-tech digital fest with three screens. There is 10.1-inch touch infotainment screen, a 10-inch LCD instrument cluster display and a head-up display in the Executive-Plus.

What was a bit of a let-down though was that you needed to download an app and a code or something to get the car to communicate with an Android phone. And my driving partner’s phone and the car never made friends, whereas my iPhone connected no problem. But it did lose the link a few times, forcing me to reactivate Apple CarPlay to get things going again. We will get a car on test and then we can check if this was operator error, phone error or car error.

ALSO READ: GAC’s first South African foray off to an impressive (Em)zoom

GAC Emkoo a smooth operator

Talking of phones and keeping our eyes on the road, the GAC Emkoo offered a better-than-expected ride quality with an above average level of refinement. The 130kW/270Nm, 1.5-litre turbocharged engine that drives down to the front wheels via seven-speed DCT gearbox also proved to offer enough urge for most situations.

Even the fuel consumption on the launch event drive turned out to be better-than-expected at around 8.5 litres per 100km.

But it was the common Chinese car throttle calibration gremlin of being too sensitive at low speed and then slow to react when wanting to overtake at higher speed that reared its head to spoil what could have been close to full marks.

Big ambitions

The GAC Emkoo not only taking aim at the likes of the Toyota RAV4, VW Tiguan, Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tucson, it is also quite keen to mix it up with the ever-growing list of fellow Chinese competitors in the Chery Tiggo 7 Pro, GWM Haval H6, Jaecoo J7 and the soon to be released Jetour Dashing.

With new Chinese cars as good as these hitting the streets every day, you can easily see why many of the traditional brands in South Africa are really starting to push the high-quality, long-standing heritage, and local support and loyalty messages so hard. Some are in a battle to limit the hits their sales volumes are taking, and others are literally fighting for survival in the most competitive and overtraded segment in our market.

GAC Motor has 20 dealerships spread out around the country. All their cars come with a five-year/150 000km warranty and five-year/60 000km service plan.